


Unpacking

by Minim Calibre (minim_calibre)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-01-12
Updated: 2003-01-12
Packaged: 2019-06-19 09:45:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15507450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minim_calibre/pseuds/Minim%20Calibre
Summary: Joyce starting over.





	Unpacking

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Glass Onion](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Glass_Onion), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Glass Onion’s collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/glassonion/profile).

 

Unpacking

## Unpacking

### by Minim Calibre

It's been six months since I took it off, but I still feel it like a missing limb. Six months since "us" split into "him" and "me". Six months, and the groove it wore in my finger is only just now starting to fade. 

Six months, an old-growth forest of legal paperwork, and several hundred dollars spent on anti-wrinkle creams and potions that promise me all the things I wish I was stupid enough to believe. Six months spent smearing them on religiously, even though I know they're a waste of money and they won't make a difference; I just wanted to pretend I believed in miracles, for a little while. 

It will be nice, not running into people who will ask me how I'm doing, that polite social concern stretched across their faces. Nice not to have to lie to them, to tell them that things are fine, that we're getting along better as friends than we were as husband and wife, that it's for the best, while the whole time my thumb worries the absent gold band. Nice to maybe make new friends, ones who won't feel like they have to choose a side and choose to retreat instead. 

A fresh start. A new town, new faces, new people, a new gallery. A new school for Buffy, one where she can make a fresh start of her own. A new house with plenty of room for the two of us. It's more house than I ever thought I'd be able to afford, even with settlements and alimony and child support on top of my income. 

We'll be happy here. I can feel it in my bones. 

* * *

If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Minim Calibre


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